Reality of a Fortune Cookie
by G.Aileen
Summary: She's left and moved on. But once she comes back, will she be accepted back into her old town?
1. Reality of a Fortune Cookie

A/N: Regular- present Italicized- past…. You could've figured that out already… Enjoy!!!

**Chapter 1: The Reality of a Fortune Cookie**

**Sarah POV**

I could still remember it all happening clearly in my head. Sitting in the passenger seat, I looked out the window, finding my friend, Amy crying. She was with her brother, Marc; he was simply just staring back at me showing no emotion at all. We did sort of have a thing, but we were young back then and didn't know what was real and not. I remember the day before I had to leave, Amy begged and begged for me not to leave. As much as I wanted to stay, I couldn't leave my mother alone. She was the only family I had now. My father was no longer in the picture, thus us moving.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the town I grew up in. I was born and raised here in Bethel and could never imagine the thought of leaving my town. Due to circumstances, it had to be done. So, I left my best friend Amy, her brother, her family, and everyone else who was dear to me. Such as, the owner of the diner who made the best coffee, she was great to me. She'd sneak coffee in my mug, which my parents thought was hot chocolate. I loved her for that. I was also leaving my favorite teacher. He'd taught me so many great things. Not only in books, but he'd taught me aspects of life that I could not imagine. And I had to leave it all.

That was five years ago.

I am now seventeen, a junior in high school. I go to a private school in Queens, New York. I am chief editor of the school paper and captain of the softball team. I have the greatest friends I could hope for. Despite all this, there was one negative influence in my life. His name was Eddie. My mother found out about my situation with this 'bad influence' and suggested we move again. I convinced her that it was no big deal and that we could live with it until high school was over. We tried, but it had happened again to me. So, we packed up and left. There was no spare minute to say goodbye to the friends I've made.

Boxes, luggage, and bags were stuffed into the trunk. We drove off, opposite city. The lights of New York were wonderful, but now I had to leave it all, again. My mother and I now have the reputation of picking up and leaving. Goodbye city, hello new life. Or should I say Goodbye City, hello new life in an old town?

I had no idea where my mother was driving to until we passed the Welcome to Bethel sign. It was sort of déjà vu when I didn't remember the significance of Bethel. I had forgotten almost everything about this town. I moved on from it, but once the sight of the familiar buildings and trees, and that lake I loved, everything hit me like a big business truck. Bethel was always a small town; it never reached over 1,500 population. Except for probably now. Bethel now has 1,502 people in its town, I thought.

My mom stopped by the gas station to fill our minivan with its fuel. I went inside to get some snacks, being we hadn't eaten in hours. I went through the chip aisle, and stopped when I heard a familiar voice at the next aisle.

"You cannot guess who is here," I heard the first girl say.

"Who?" the familiar voice asked.

The first girl laughed a bit, which I cannot understand why, then answered, "Weathers." She gave the same chuckle again.

"Weathers? As in Sarah?" the familiar voice asked. "Sarah Weathers?"

"Yeah, can you believe that?" the first girl stated. I walked to the end of the aisle to catch a glimpse of their faces. The familiar voice had the familiar face of my friend Amy. A noticeable smile caught my face and a tear began to make of my eye. I reached for the shelf to catch my balance, but a can of soup accidentally fell and all attention of customers was on me. Including Amy's…

"Sarah?" she asked, walking closer. "You're actually here!" Amy ran to me, embracing me in a hug.

_We were young, about 10, we ran across the beach chasing each other. We threw sand at each other's back, which remained red for about a week. After a couple hours of playing, we went into her mom's beach house and ate. We sneaked in our room with some sweets and heard what our parents were saying. Their voices were loud as if they were yelling at each other. I heard my mother say some nasty things to my father while Amy's mom tried to calm them down. It scared me because that was the very first fight I've heard my parents yell. Was this the beginning of their end?_

"I've missed you!" exclaims Amy still in her arms. "I can't wait to tell my parents and my brother. They'll be so psyched!"

I led Amy to my mother outside. They gave each other a hug and began to talk about things, which I didn't really pay attention to. A couple minutes later, Amy's friend came out of the little store and got into her car. She drove up next to us and Amy jumped in.

"Nice girl, that Amy," says my mother. I wasn't paying attention to her either because I only watched Amy with that friend of hers. It hurt to know that someone I barely knew had replaced me. You can't blame her thought, it has been five years since we've seen each other. It's been four years since we've stopped talking on the phone everyday. It's been three years since we've stopped mailing each other. And it's been two years since we've stopped all communication all together. I don't know what had happened for us to break apart like that, but it happened.

We drove to a motel and checked a room out for us. While my mother took a long shower, I grabbed our bags and dragged them inside the room. After throwing them on her bed, I threw myself onto my bed and dozed off. I didn't feel like walking or talking or anything that had to move my body. Could this day get any worse? First, I had to wake up early on a Saturday morning. Then I had to say goodbye to my friends, and now I see Amy and found out I've been replaced. What now? Does a grand piano fall from the ceiling and kill me? Actually, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

The next morning, my mom felt like she needed to get acquainted with the town again. She wanted to go to the mall, the diner, the library, and wherever she can get to. I suggested that I should stay in the motel and continue sleeping, but I got dragged out. My mom began to sing loudly in the car when she noticed I was beginning to doze off. She never had the greatest voice.

She abruptly stopped the car in the parking space. "Where are we?" I asked through my sleepiness. I looked out the window and the building said EASTON MALL. That reminded me of someplace, but I couldn't remember what. We went inside and it wasn't so crowded. My mother dragged me to each store, outlet, and booth that was sitting out. I was so tired all I wanted to do was to faint and fall asleep.

Then, I saw someone familiar. I remembered the face, but couldn't remember the name. He was tall and had black hair. He was walking with a girl, who also looked strangely familiar. I hated déjà vu because I could never remember anything. So, I shrugged it off and let them pass. We went into the food court knowing that we had nothing to eat that morning. I looked to the left and there was Chinese Takeout and to the right was some type of Pizzeria. It didn't matter what I wanted because I wasn't at all hungry. My mother ordered for herself after asking me multiple times what I wanted. She went to the Chinese place. I could tell she felt sympathy over me because I was always so tired and not hungry. Then she handed me her fortune cookie. I never ate the cookie; I just broke it and kept the fortune.

The fortune said: "The past will catch up to you. Lucky Numbers 23, 14, and 42. Learn Chinese: (Some type of Chinese Writing was written out). Hello Again."

I found no significance in this fortune. Then again, I only read half of it because I was half falling asleep. My eyes began to shut slowly, but got interrupted when a voice behind me started calling my name.

"Sarah? Is that you?" I cursed myself having to wake up. I turned to see who it was. Amy stood there with her friend. Getting up from my seat, I walked to her. "Hey, Sarah. How's it going?"

There was something in my hand. I looked down and found the fortune. Hello Again was in a small print but could read it fairly fine. I said the pronunciation to Amy. "I didn't know you could speak Chinese!" she exclaimed, loudly.

"I don't," I said, showing her the fortune. She smiled awkwardly and started talking again. "Have you seen my brother? He's here, but I just can't find him."

I faintly remembered that black-haired guy I saw a couple minutes earlier. That was why he looked so familiar. It was Amy's brother. What was his name, again? "Your brother?" I asked.

"Yeah! You know, Marc." After a couple seconds of silence, she starts talking again. "You don't remember, do you?" She sounded so disappointed in me. I didn't like that feeling. I never had someone look up to me as Amy did in the past. She thought I was some great person who could to great things. Then you make a big mistake, and all the people around you just frown and shake their heads.

"Amy!" a deep voice from behind yelled. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Where the hell have you be… Sarah?" The tall dark-hair guy stopped right in front of me. He managed to smile, but the air was still awkward. "Sarah?" he asked again.

I said Hello Again in Chinese and tried to smile. It felt like I was running out of words to say. What was happening to me? I used to love to talk. The girl that Marc was walking with cleared her through impatiently.

"Oh, sorry. Sarah this is Tricia, Tricia, Sarah." She shook my hand, but I didn't say anything. Out of respect you would expect a "Nice to meet you," or something like that, but I just remained silent. Marc was staring straight into my eyes and made me overly uncomfortable. "We should catch up," he said. He gave his car keys to Amy and her friend and Tricia followed her out. Marc waited until they were out of sight to speak again. "So you're probably wondering about Tricia," he guessed.

"Not really. No," I lied.

He gave a strange smile. "Okay, then. I'll see you around." He gave a hug/pat, which was again, uncomfortable. I could tell he didn't know how to act around me anymore. He left the building and I sat back down with my mom. "So, how was talking to Marc?"

"I don't know. He's acting strange around me." She nodded understanding what I said. Time of the day was running out and we still needed to go to the places my mother had listed.

Our next stop was to the library. I found it strange that my mom wanted to go there, though she's always hated reading. We shared that in common. We still went in though. Nothing new had happened in there except for a new shelf for some old books. "Well, that was a waste of time," my mother managed to make a joke. I didn't laugh of course, being that my mother, in my eyes, was never funny.

We sat in the car, not knowing what to do now. Then, I thought, why were in Bethel? Why had my mother driven us all the way from Queens to this shit ass little town, Bethel? Why had she brought me to this place where I was now a distant memory to everyone? What was she thinking? What was she planning on doing in Bethel? We were sure not going to live here again! Or are we? Out of anger, I said quietly, but harshly at my mother, "Why are we here?"

"Good question. We never liked libraries."

"No, Mom. Why are we in Bethel? Why did you bring us back here?" I yelled. My mom was taken aback.

"You know why! In Queens, the same thing would happen to you over and over again. I can't stand to see my little girl get hurt!"

"But why back here in Bethel?"

"…Because this was the one place I thought you'd be safe." My mother turned the engine on and drove back to the motel. I sat quietly, but angry in the passenger seat. We arrived to the motel, a little before sunset. Then, we noticed someone standing in front of our room. It was an older lady around my mother's age.

"Hannah, I can't believe you're really here!" she screamed when she caught sight of my mother. "My daughter told me you two were in town and I couldn't believe it and I had to see for myself." It was Amy's mother.

"Come on, you two can stay at our house. Grab your things and let's go." Amy's mom was always a pleasant woman. She'd always have a smile on her face. She was always the calm one when everything in the world was revolving a little too fast. We did as what we were told to do and grabbed our belongings and followed Mrs. Jennings car to her home.

She had set up the guestroom for us and made sure we had what we needed. We had towels and soap and brand new spanking shampoo for us in the bathroom. Sense my sarcasm… Even though she was great to us, Amy and Marc still didn't know I was now living in their house.

Actually they didn't know I was living there until next morning. I walked to the bathroom and found it locked. Naturally, I guessed it was my mom in there. So, I waited, knowing it wouldn't be too long. Once, the door opened Amy walked out sleepy-eyed. She finally opened her eyes fully finding me standing in front of her.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Sarcastically, I said, "I broke into your house." She smiled and I went into the bathroom. Minutes later, everyone was awake and in the kitchen eating. My mom was talking to Amy's mother about what has happened to us in the past five years. My mom was filling her in with the most detailed facts, but leaving some things behind. Marc was sitting on the counter fiddling with his car keys waiting for Amy to finish her food.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"It's Monday. Time for school," Marc said, not looking up. His tone didn't sound so friendly towards me. Once Amy had finished her food, Marc and she left for school. So, I was left with the parents. It was quiet so I felt like I needed to say something. "Where's Mr. Jennings?" I asked Amy's mom.

"He went out early for work today. You know them Mondays!" she said so cheery. My mom took a sip of her coffee and said something towards me. "I enrolled you to Bethel High. You'll be starting tomorrow."

What did that mean? Are we staying in Bethel for good? What was going on? Why is every important decision being done without me? "I don't have any school supplies and stuff," I said.

Mrs. Jennings put down her coffee cup and suggested I go school shopping with Amy or Marc. I really didn't feel like shopping, but I didn't want to seem rude so I agreed with what she wanted. I went into the living room and put on some TV. What's on during school days beside soap operas?

"So, can you drive yet, Sarah?" Amy's mom asked me. I knew she was trying to start a conversation with me. She sat down beside me on the couch staring into the TV not really watching.

"Yeah," was all I could say. I didn't feel like talking now, so I kept everything I said under a five word limit. I watched as the main characters in the soap opera create more and more drama when it wasn't needed. Around two thirty, Marc and Amy came home. When they walked in the house, it seemed like they didn't want to see or talk to me. Or was I just creating more drama where it wasn't needed. I tried to be friendly. "How was school?" I asked.

"Fine." Marc walked into his room and shut it. Amy sat down next to me and tried to make conversation. "So, tell me how Queens was," she suggested.

"It was good. My life there revolved around the school paper, softball, and friends. It was a pretty good place to live."

"So, it must suck to come back here," she presumed. "I've always wanted to go to New York. It's always been my dream to leave Bethel and go to NYU or something. That's a great school, I heard."

"It is. I mean… NYU is a good school. Not the sucking to come back here. Okay, that made no sense at all," I rambled. Not knowing what to say, I just remained silent. Amy started to speak again.

"School paper? For someone who doesn't like to read, you like to write? I could never imagine that. So, how great were your friends? Was there ever a special guy in your life?" she listed off he questions.

"A guy?" _Eddie seemed liked a nice guy from the beginning. He loved to flirt with every single girl he laid eyes on. Once he had reached me, we started getting closer and closer until we finally decided to go out with each other. That's when I noticed no one is what they seem like on the surface._ "There was…" I answered.

"Tell me about it!" she urged forward. She seemed happy that we were getting to know each other again. "Maybe another time," I said, not wanting to talk about it. Marc came out of his room and jumped unto the couch and switched to the cartoons. He was always a little childish. Marc stared at the television screen and said nothing to me at all. "Rude," Amy said, snatching the remote control from him. "At least say hi to her!"

With an annoyed face, Marc took back the remote control from her and remained silent. Amy was about to do something to him, but I stopped her. "Amy, its fine. Let's go to the mall," I suggested, taking up what Mrs. Jennings said earlier.

"Is your brother mad at me?" I asked Amy as we walked through the aisles. "He seems really angry that I'm here in town."

"Sarah, he's been like that since way back when. He's always in a pissy mood." She grabbed a bunch of pencils and papers. "…but if you must know, he's trying to deal with the fact that you're here."

"That doesn't make sense."

"We all know he's liked you since so long ago, you disappear, and then you come back again. He's still trying to cope with the idea that you left _him._ You guys had a thing back then, right?"

"I didn't leave him!" I tried explaining. "I had no choice but to leave."

"_Honey, pack your things we're leaving," my mother says walking into my room. "Make sure you get everything, we're not coming back, ever." I grabbed my traveling bag and started filling them with clothes and such. I stuck my magazines, letters, and books I had in there until I couldn't zip it up. My mom came back in my room a couple minutes later, grabbed my stuff, grabbed my wrist, and took us to her car. She hurriedly pushed me in and we drove off. I had no idea what was going, and I was scared. My mother was never in a panic like this. What was wrong? I looked at the side-view window and found my father staring at the dust that we left behind after the car took off. My mom took us to Amy's house and she told me to say goodbye to them. I ran out of the car and began knocking on their door loudly. Amy answered it, "What's wrong, Sarah? Why are you crying?" All I could answer was with a hug and said I had to leave. And that was the end of my time in Bethel._


	2. The Last Letter

**Chapter 2: The Last Letter **

**Marc POV**

I wasn't really watching television as what they thought I was doing. I heard Amy say something about a 'special' guy in her life, and I couldn't clearly hear what Sarah said. So, I casually walked out to listen to their conversation. Unfortunately, the topic had changed by the time I reached the couch. I shut my eyes for awhile.

"_So, Sarah…" I began, but got nervous again. "I know you and I have known each other for a long time, and that we've been friends since preschool. I was thinking if maybe we should go out." I looked at my pathetic self, practicing in front of a mirror. Why was I like this? I have no problem teasing her, but have a huge one saying I liked her. "Sarah…" I started again, with a different approach. _

_A knock came to my door. It was Amy crying. I ran out to her to see what was wrong. "Sarah's leaving!" she exclaimed. She pulled on my shirt and dragged me outside where she stood there, crying herself. "You're leaving?" I asked her. She nodded her head. She came over to give me a hug, but I didn't return it. Why was this happening now? The time I came up the courage of asking her out, is the time she has to leave. She looked up at me, but I didn't stare into her eyes, like I imagined this moment to be. "Marc," she said. "…I…" She got cut off by her mother asking her to hurry up. She never finished her thought, what was she going to say? She hopped into the car and left._

"We're back!" a loud annoying voice came in the door, shutting it behind her. "We got everything Sarah needs for school!"

I got up from the couch and threw a pillow at Amy for being so loud. Amy threw it back and I caught Sarah smiling. I looked away hoping she didn't realize I was looking at her. Amy went to her room leaving me alone with Sarah in the living room. "Hey," I managed to say without choking. "How's two hours alone with my annoying sister?"

"Not as bad as I imagined," she said. "Marc, are you mad at me?"

"Por que?" Might as well use the language that the school was teaching. "What do you mean?" I sat upright on the couch, knowing where this conversation will lead us. I was afraid to go through this.

"You seem to be mad at me for something and I don't know why. You seem like you're irritated by me or something. It's driving me crazy, honestly." She sat at the far end of the couch. "Are you still mad at me because I left town?"

"Sarah, you left me in a bad situation when you left. You act like nothings happened between us. You and I both know what…" I began to say, but got cut off by her. "Marc, nothing ever did happen! You made no move!" She sighed. "I can't even talk about this right now. I'm going for a walk." She left.

_I walked behind Sarah not knowing what to do or say. We were alone, finally, without Amy to bother us. I had nothing to talk about though. It was getting dark out and we had a long ways to walk before we got home. Sadly, Sarah decided to take the shortcut through the cemetery. She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the tombstones. "I thought you weren't afraid of anything," she said smiling. I fell out of her grip and hid behind a tree. She roamed around looking for me. "Marc, I know you're there. If you're trying to scare me, you know I'll physically beat you down later." I crept up behind her and placed my hand on her shoulder. She screamed for a second before I cover her mouth with my hand. "Any louder, and you'll get us in trouble," I whispered to her ear. Sarah forcefully removed my hand from her mouth and turned to face me. She socked me in my stomach. "I told you I'd beat you down for that." She began to walk away, but I caught her hand, pulled her to me and kissed her. It was one of those spontaneous moments. We got home safely. During school the next week we would constantly talk to each other, but neither bringing up what had happened the week before. I was slowly gaining the courage to ask her out, but little did I know that she would be leaving a couple weeks later._

Dinner was quiet that night. It was only filled with the parents talking and the "could you pass the…" Amy sat there unaware of what had just happened a couple hours ago. Sarah barely touched her food and was staring off into space. "So, Mom, what's for dessert?" I tried to cheer up the dead of the dinner table. "Pie."

After dessert, we all went to bed with nothing else to say to each other. The next morning, Amy, Sarah, and I took turns in the restroom getting ready for school. Like usual, Amy took the longest. No matter how much makeup she puts on, she still looks like she'd waken up from a nightmare.

I waited in my car for the girls to hurry. My phone rang and it was Tricia needing a ride to school. The girls finally came and I stuffed them in the back seat. I drove to Tricia's house and honked the horn. She came hopping out of her house and she took a seat in the passenger's side. With a kiss, we were off to school.

Once we had arrived at Bethel High, I made Amy show Sarah where the office was so I had at least five minutes alone with my girlfriend until the bell rang. Amy and Sarah were finally out of sight, and Tricia and I were along. She took my hand and walked to her locker. "So, who is this Sarah anyway?" she asked curiously, but tried to make it look like she didn't care. "An old friend from a long time ago," I replied. Tricia automatically came rendering with questions, "Did you two go out?"

I've always wanted to answer that question with a yes. "Never did." She sighed with relief. "Good. She looks like a total slut." As much as I wanted to defend Sarah, I couldn't. I was still angry with her. I know Tricia; she's one to spread rumors around the school. It didn't matter. Sarah is nothing to me now. In the matter of minutes, rumors were already going around about her. "Babe," she said to me. "Let's do something after school today, just the two of us. Okay?" I nodded.

**Amy POV**

"Let me see your classes," I said to Sarah. She was looking them over, making sure each class and day and every detail was correct. I managed to snatch the paper from her. "Hmm, lets see. …AP English, Calculus, Journalism, AP Physics, AP History… Are you sure you can handle all these classes?"

"I've done it before."

The bell rang and I pointed Sarah the way to class. Unfortunately, looking through her sophisticated schedule, we had no classes together. I just hoped she could manage a whole day without causing drama at Bethel. Bethel was known for all the rumors and drama going around. In first period, I sat with my friend Mia. Our teacher was monotone and it was always boring to hear him speak. During his planned lectures, half the class would doze off.

During our ten-minute break, I tried to find Sarah, but could see her anywhere. I looked in her previous class, the library, the restrooms, and she wasn't there. The last place I looked was her locker. She was there, on the phone, looking strangely worried. When she hung up, she just sort of stood there for a second. "Sarah, everything alright?" I asked. She seemed distracted. "Huh? What? Oh. Yeah, everything's fine."

"Who was on the phone with you?" I asked curiously. She stopped her moving for a second and looked up at me. "Eddie called me."

"Who's Eddie?" I urged. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Unfortunately."

"You don't seem to be too happy with him. What's going on?" I wanted to know. Sarah's life was interesting being that I wasn't informed on her life for five years. Everything she said amazed me. "I don't think I'm ready to tell you," she said. "I'll tell you eventually, when everything's settled."

The bell rang and we were off for class. All during this period, I was wondering what Sarah had meant. She's not ready to tell me? She was keeping a secret from me, and I was curious to know what it is. Was she getting married? Is she pregnant? What does she mean with 'once everything's settled'? Is she moving in with this Eddie? A lot of possibilities came into my head.

Lunch finally came letting me clear my head for a bit. Then, I remembered I had a study date with Mia. So instead of finding Sarah, I went to the library to study for the big test coming up in Chemistry. Balancing equations, mole to mole ratios, and isotopes were on this test. Too bad I knew nothing of it. Sarah walked in the library with someone. It looked like Kenny, Marc's best friend back in middle school. Well, at least she doesn't feel lonely during lunch. I felt guilty for leaving her, but now, not so much knowing Kenny was there. I had this obvious crush on Kenny in middle school. Thing was, Marc and Kenny were always busy doing their guy-like things like sports, that we had no time to actually talk to each other. It made me chuckle just thinking about it.

**Sarah POV**

I found Kenny in the cafeteria and decided to hang out with him, being that I couldn't find Amy anywhere. I remember that Amy had a ridiculous crush over him, that I found really amusing.

_Amy sighed as Kenny walked with Marc to the basketball courts. "Why don't you just talk to him?" I asked Amy. "You like him, he likes you, what are you waiting for?" Amy looked to me and back at him. "And how do you know he likes me?" she asked. "Because I asked him!" Amy playfully punched my arm. "Why did you ask him? That's embarrassing!" Amy began to blush. Her face was flushed pink! _

"How's life?" I asked Kenny. We moved forward in the cafeteria traffic line. There was a good fifteen people standing between our food and us. "It's alright, I guess," he said. "How's Amy?"

"Amy? Don't tell me you still have that crush on her!" He blushed. "You do? You do!" I smiled. "You know, you two are cute. Why haven't you guys gone out since I was gone?"

As he paid the lunch lady for his food, he answered, "Well, I've never gathered up the courage to ask her. Plus, I don't think she likes me that much anymore anyway. Do you know if she does at all?" We went down the line getting the food we wanted.

"I don't know, I'll have to ask her later." After finishing our food, we went to the library. Opening the doors, I found Amy and her friend, Mia working. Kenny and I walked over to them and sat down at their table. "Hey, Amy. Look who I found." Amy stopped her work and looked up from them. "Kenny," she said. "H…h…he…hello." It made me smile seeing she was still nervous around him. "H…how…are you?"

"Fine," he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "How are you?"

"G…good. Just working on… stuff." We all smiled, talked, and caught up with each other. It was good to see Kenny again.

After school, Amy and I went looking for Marc. He was in fact, our only ride home. When he was finally in sight, he walked with Tricia over to us. "Hey," he began. "I have some things to do right now. So, I can't give you a ride home." Tricia put her arm around his waist to see if I would react. She didn't like me; I knew that. "Can you guys take the bus home?"

"The buses already left," Amy said. "But whatever. We'll walk home. Let's go Sarah." She grabbed my wrist and we left direction of her house. We walked for a couple minutes in silence. "You do realize it takes about half an hour to get to your house right?" I asked. She nodded her head. "Don't worry about it though. He'll feel guilty for it later. It's not the first time he picked his girlfriend over me. I sort of stopped caring a year ago."

We reached the cemetery and memories of Marc and I flooded my head. "He's different now," I told Amy. She responded with, "He's been different since you left."

_I got a letter from Amy that night. It said:_

_Sarah,_

_I don't know what's going on anymore. Nothing's the way it was before. My brother has been acting all depressed and it seems like he doesn't care much for his life or mine anymore. He was a cool guy, wasn't he? And me? How do you think I've been? I've been miserable. But whatever. I don't care anymore._

_I know you won't write me back just like the other letters I've sent. Did you change your address or are you ignoring me? I don't know anymore. This is my last letter to you, Sarah. Goodbye._

_-Amy_

I felt miserable after reading that letter. The only reason why I hadn't written back was because I was afraid. It seemed to me in Bethel, after I left, had changed. Once we got to her house, my phone rang. "Kenny calling…" The screen read. I answered my phone, going into the kitchen. "Hey, Kenny. What's up?"

"Can you do me a huge favor, Sarah?" he asked. "Well, I got to thinking about the whole Amy thing. I was wondering if you could maybe bring her to the movies Friday night without telling her I'll be there." He began to sound excited. "It's a surprise date type thing. So if you could, please, do it!"

"Yeah," I smiled. "Of course."

"Thanks, Sar. I owe you big." We hung up. I looked for something to eat, until my phone rang again. "Eddie calling…" I didn't want to answer. I hated talking to him.

"What do you want, Eddie?" I said, after pressing the green button. I was so angry towards him, no one can measure it up. Eddie was rambling, then, "Sarah, I want you to come back. I'm sorry for what I've done. I need you back. I can't go on without you." His words were a little twisted, meaning only one thing to me: He's drunk. Amy walked into the room wondering who was on the phone with me. "Sarah, please come back. I'm sorry for hurting you." I couldn't stand to hear anymore of this. I hung up.

"Who was that?" Amy asked grabbing a glass of water. "Eddie?" I nodded my head and ended that conversation. I want Eddie to be out of my life forever, but it can't happen unless he stops calling me. "Amy, you want to go to the movies this Friday? My treat," I said. It wasn't really my treat. Kenny was paying for us both. She willingly answered with a yes. Amy's always loved movies. I knew that.

_Amy and I went to the movies a little after sundown. We were watching some chick flick but we weren't paying attention because we were constantly throwing popcorn at Kenny and Marc who sat in front of us. Once we ran out of popcorn, we started throwing M&M's. Honestly, I thought it was a waste of food, but its fun to annoy them. After the movie, we waited outside about an hour until our rides came. When our parents asked us how the movie was, we answered truthfully with a, "I wasn't paying attention much." We knew then, our parents regretted giving us money to watch a movie that we weren't going to watch. _


	3. Surprises, Surprises

**Chapter 3: Surprises, Surprises**

**Amy POV**

Friday night came sooner than usual. We got Marc to give us a ride to the movies. Then, he thought of the idea of just tagging along with us. He gave us the excuse of 'we needed some type of authority watching us.' I didn't believe that. He probably just wanted another make out exchange with Tricia. But when I asked him that, he said she wasn't coming.

Sarah was the first one ready to leave. We all got into my brother's car and drove to the theatres. Once we got there, I found Kenny waiting at the front doors. He was holding flowers. "Kenny's here," I whispered to Sarah. "Is he on some date or something? Did his date just never show up?"

Sarah looked at me and said, "His date is here. He's waiting for you." I screamed! "You set me up with Kenny? Oh I cannot thank you enough! I owe you big." I ran out of the car and into Kenny's arms. I happily received the flowers from him, and we went inside. Marc and Sarah were still in his car watching us go in.

**Marc POV**

"You planned this," I asked casually. She nodded. "What now? Do we go in after them? Make sure there are no PDA's?" She shook her head. "I wasn't planning on you actually coming along," she said. "I was just going to leave them two together and I was going to go to the diner meanwhile."

"I'll bring you there," I suggested. "Haven't been there since forever. Let's see… it's been exactly… five years… since I've gone there." My words seemed to disappear as I finished the sentence. I haven't gone to the diner in five years. I amazed myself. I put my car into drive and we left for the diner, which was only a couple blocks down.

We went inside and found a seat at the counter. We were both hoping to see the owner. Luckily, we did. She came out of the back room but didn't notice us. She went to the tables and took their orders.

"_Now look, you two. If your parents find out I've been giving you coffee, I'm a dead woman. So if you can please keep it quietly to yourselves." She said, while putting coffee into our thermos. I loved the taste of her coffee. It was unique, but it still kept its original taste. It was indescribable._

"I don't think she notices us," Sarah said to me. "Then again, I don't blame her. It's been five years. Oh well, lets get something to eat and lets go for a walk, okay?"

"Sure." We both ordered a burger with a side of fries. She was quick to eat, always had been. And once we were finished, we walked down to the lake. We both loved the lake. We had so many memories there, but I couldn't remember any. "It's a nice night," I said to her, breaking the silence.

When she turned to face me, her eyes were watery. "What's wrong?" I asked. I didn't want to see her like this. She whispered, "I don't belong here, Marc." I looked at her confused. "I don't belong here. Amy's found a new best friend. The owner of the diner doesn't remember me. You've moved on. I don't know why I'm still here, Marc!"

I didn't know how to respond to her. I've never talked to a crying girl before. "Uh…" I took a deep breath. "I don't know what to say, Sarah."

"I'm sorry. It's fine. It's nothing." She tried shrugging it off. "I lied to you. Did you know that?" She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to smile. "I lied when I told you I didn't wonder who Tricia was." Sarah gave a little laugh. "Thing is, I was jealous as hell." She started to walk across the bridge and I followed.

"Sarah," I said. "I'm not replacing you, if that's what you're thinking. You've always held a special part of me that I can't explain real well." She started to tear up again. This time I walked to her and wiped away her tears. We stood close. I was starting to lean towards her, but she reluctantly looked away. "We can't do this," she said and pulled away from me. "You have a girlfriend."

I shook my head. "No. I broke up with Tricia." Sarah looked down at the water. "She was saying things about you to people in school and I couldn't stand it. I remember she asked me if I was breaking up with her because of you."

"What did you say?" she asked without looking up from the water.

"I said I'd choose you over her anytime, any day. She slapped me, but it didn't hurt as much as when you left town."

"So what now?" she asked me.


End file.
